UAE: Central Bank Issues New Licensing Rule for Payment Providers

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) has issued a new regulation for retail payment services and card schemes, adding to its recent introduction of three regulations intended to manage digital payments in the UAE. The new regulations comprise a licensing scheme for payment service providers that operate or seek to provide one or more of nine types of payment services or payment card schemes in the country – payment account issuance, payment instrument issuance, merchant acquisition, payment collection, local and cross-border fund transfers, payment tokens, introductory services and payment account information services. 

The new regulations were published in the UAE Official Gazette on 15 June and took effect one month later. Existing payment service providers and card schemes have been a transitional period of one year to secure the relevant CBUAE licence.